New 1965 Selma to Montgomery March Film Now Online!

     There is no audio...the film starts in black and white but the amazing color film follows.
     I suggest you put on some appropriate music...like The Staple Singers "Freedom Highway", or Peter Paul and Mary....then watch this full screen...take yourself back to 1965!
{Aerial black and white stills can be found here.}

From the Alabama Department of Archives and History:

Montgomery, AL (3/19/15) –The Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) has released recently discovered, unseen color and black-and-white film footage of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March and newly acquired aerial photographs of downtown Montgomery and the City of St. Jude taken on March 25, 1965.

Approximately 3,000 feet of 16mm color film was discovered during a collections inventory of materials created during the George Wallace administration. The film footage was shot under the auspices of the Alabama Sovereignty Commission. Established in 1963, the Commission was charged “to do and perform any and all acts and things deemed necessary and proper to protect the sovereignty of the State of Alabama (Acts of 1963, No. 514).” Its function was to investigate and discredit the efforts of individuals and organizations working to improve civil rights.

The film captures powerful scenes of the third, successful march beginning in Selma at Brown Chapel, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, along highway 80 in Lowndes County, and the marchers’ arrival into Montgomery on March 25, 1965. It also captures scenes of protests in Selma in the days following the “Bloody Sunday” march on March 7 and demonstrations by Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) and Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) students in downtown Montgomery in mid-March. The majority of the film contains no audio but it captures many of the most iconic scenes of the final March including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “How Long, Not Long” speech.

The ADAH has also released 16 aerial photographs that were taken by Alabama Air National Guard reconnaissance pilots in the skies above Montgomery on March 25, 1965. They capture the marchers lining up at their final campsite at the City of St. Jude as they prepare to march the remaining miles to the Alabama State Capitol. The photographs also show views of downtown Montgomery and the Capitol Complex as thousands of marchers pour into the city. The images provide a new perspective on the culmination of the March and detail on Montgomery streetscapes during this period. They are part of two separate collections recently donated to the ADAH.

“While the nation’s eyes are fixed on Selma, Highway 80, and Montgomery during this fiftieth anniversary, we are pleased to be able to share these striking visual records of a turning point in Alabama and American history,” said ADAH director Steve Murray. “They are interesting and instructive for providing new perspectives on familiar scenes, such as the culminating demonstration at the Capitol on March 25, but also for making visible some lesser-known episodes such as the marches by Tuskegee and Alabama State students.”